Infanticide and Baby-farming in Victorian England
The Torquay Murder of 1865
Seiten
2025
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-53202-1 (ISBN)
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-53202-1 (ISBN)
This book explores the social and cultural responses to infanticide and baby-farming in Victorian England, focusing particularly on the Torquay Murder of 1865 and the two women accused of committing the crime; Mary Jane Harris and Charlotte Winsor.
This open access book explores the tragic case of the Torquay Murder of 1865, when the body of a young boy was discovered abandoned on the outskirts of Torquay in Devon, England. Having identified the child as three-month-old Thomas Harris, local police arrested the child’s mother, Mary Jane Harris, and his nurse, Charlotte Winsor, and charged them both with murder.
Through careful analysis of a range of original sources including police and inquest reports, court and prison records, witness depositions, newspaper accounts, census records, medical and legal texts, Home Office documents and letters, Mark Jackson reconstructs the complex story of the Torquay murder and explores the personal and political consequences of England’s first baby-farming scandal. Situating the case within the context of mid-Victorian concerns over rising rates of illegitimacy and infanticide, debates about the abolition of capital punishment and attempts to regulate child-care and adoption practices, this book examines the impact this landmark trial had on British law and society.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by University of Exeter, UK.
This open access book explores the tragic case of the Torquay Murder of 1865, when the body of a young boy was discovered abandoned on the outskirts of Torquay in Devon, England. Having identified the child as three-month-old Thomas Harris, local police arrested the child’s mother, Mary Jane Harris, and his nurse, Charlotte Winsor, and charged them both with murder.
Through careful analysis of a range of original sources including police and inquest reports, court and prison records, witness depositions, newspaper accounts, census records, medical and legal texts, Home Office documents and letters, Mark Jackson reconstructs the complex story of the Torquay murder and explores the personal and political consequences of England’s first baby-farming scandal. Situating the case within the context of mid-Victorian concerns over rising rates of illegitimacy and infanticide, debates about the abolition of capital punishment and attempts to regulate child-care and adoption practices, this book examines the impact this landmark trial had on British law and society.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by University of Exeter, UK.
Mark Jackson is Professor of the History of Medicine at University of Exeter, UK. He has written extensively on the history of crime and medicine and is the author of over 20 books including New-Born Child Murder: Women, Illegitimacy and the Courts in Eighteenth-Century England (1996) and Infanticide: Historical Perspectives on Child Murder and Concealment 1550-2000 (ed., 2002).
Introduction: The Torquay Murder
1. A Separate Offence
2. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
3. Turning Queen’s Evidence
4. The Prerogative of Mercy
5. Agents of Death
6. Penal Servitude for Life
Epilogue
Notes on Sources
| Erscheinungsdatum | 17.10.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | History of Crime, Deviance and Punishment |
| Zusatzinfo | 10 bw illus |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 240 x 272 mm |
| Gewicht | 3900 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-350-53202-9 / 1350532029 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-350-53202-1 / 9781350532021 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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Buch | Hardcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 47,60
